Episode 444 Juan “JP” Perez Transforming Lives with VetRise Academy Transcript

This transcript is from episode 444 with guest Juan “JP” Perez.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today my guest is JP Perez, who is a former U. S. Marine infantryman and scout sniper. And it’s always nice to have a fellow grunt on the show. Uh, and after his service in Afghanistan and, uh, Subsequently, in law enforcement, he stands as a beacon of transformation and resilience in the veteran community.

We met a couple of weeks ago at the Military Influencer Conference and, uh, you know, I really enjoyed chatting with him and I was looking forward to have him on the show. So, uh, here we are, welcome JP [00:01:00] to the show. I’m glad to have you here.

JP Perez: Happy to be here, Scott. Thank you so much for, uh, allowing me to be here and to just talk a little bit and share my story. Thank you.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And, and you’ve had, uh, you know, quite a ride, um, you know, between being a Marine and, uh, then afterwards being in, in law enforcement. Um, and, you know, it’s kind of maybe just jump right into your story, you know, how you managed to find your purpose and build a new life after the military, uh, Something that I think a lot of people struggle with, um, they, they kind of get their identity tied up in, you know, I’m, I’m a Marine, I’m a soldier, I’m a sailor, an airman, you know, whatever, uh, their identity is they get tied up in that.

Uh, and then they transition out and then it’s like, who, who am I? You know? And, uh, you know, finding that purpose and, and who you are afterwards, uh, can be a bit of a struggle. Can you share a bit about your journey that led you to kind of where you are and maybe some challenges that you might’ve faced?

JP Perez: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a great question. And that’s something that I [00:02:00] continue to find out each day. So when I left the military, I, Definitely felt like I was seeking purpose in everything that I tried, whether it was relationships, trying to find meaning in being in a relationship, or working in a non profit with veterans, or eventually going into law enforcement.

I kept trying to find something that made me feel as alive. As I did when I was in and I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t find it. And because I couldn’t find it, I kept self sabotaging. I kept allowing relationships, marriages, you know, myself to, to fail. And that’s because if it did fail, then I would feel like, well, it obviously wasn’t my fault.

It wasn’t my thing onto the next thing. And I couldn’t find it. Until I went into law enforcement, I did partially find some purpose and some healing and some meaning in my life when I went to [00:03:00] law enforcement. But now after doing it for 10 years, I’ve realized that about halfway through those 10 years, I started realizing that law enforcement was also keeping me from doing some healing because it was so similar to the military in a few ways.

However, because I was still Surrounded by very similar things that the military kind of had in law enforcement, it prevented me from doing some healing, from doing some work on myself, from looking inward, from truly addressing my shortcomings, and I ended up realizing that My divorce, my weight gain, my, my daily drinking, that it was all because I was chasing this high.

I was chasing this feeling and I wasn’t doing any of the internal work. I wasn’t addressing my mental health. I wasn’t addressing my ego that I had, the persona that I had kind of built up that I felt I [00:04:00] honestly was better than other people. And it wasn’t true. It was just, that’s the mindset that the military, especially the Marine Corps kind of gives you because you need it when you are, when you are in and you are deployed, you need to feel so freaking confident that you feel like you can take on a freaking squad of anyone that comes at you.

Like you need it, but when you get out, it doesn’t serve you the same. So. For the longest, I didn’t have that purpose. Now that I am hitting my 10 year mark, I am actually going to be leaving law enforcement. So at 10 years, I have now been done with this life and there’s nothing wrong with law enforcement, but I started a new business.

I’m, I’m on a new adventure and I’m sure we’ll have a chance to talk about that too. But to answer your question, I mean, the long and short of it is that when you leave the military, it’s hard to find that purpose because [00:05:00] you’ve done something so cool, maybe at the age of 19 And it’s hard to find that again.

So you start chasing it and you, you either create your own chaos or you find something that is just as chaotic. So you feel a little bit at home.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And I, I’ve heard from many people who say something similar to what you just said, that they, they thrive in the chaos, that they feel like they are energetic, that they are alive when, when there is a chaotic environment, whether it’s, uh, working in law enforcement, where you’re, you’re dealing with, um, um, You know, tense situations on a daily basis, or maybe they go into, you know, other first responder type careers, you know, paramedic and things like that, where it very often is a chaotic situation that they’re dealing with.

And, um, they, they just thrive in that. Or of maybe what you were talking about, where they have the, [00:06:00] um, that, that self sabotage where they kind of ruin relationships, but that kind of creates a chaos in and of itself and they, they feel like that’s where they, they’re, they’re getting their energy from, um, You know, kind of like, uh, you know, an extrovert who, who goes out and gets their energy from being around many, many people.

Um, they, they just put themselves in those situations oftentimes unnecessarily, um, just because that’s where they feel like they are going to thrive is in that chaotic kind of situation. And it’s. It’s hard to move past that, um, to get to that point where you are, um, you know, stable enough that you, you don’t need that kind of chaos anymore, where, where you feel like you can, you can move on and do other things, you know, in your case, you know, you were in law enforcement for 10 years and again, nothing wrong with the profession.

It’s a great profession. Um, [00:07:00] but you don’t, yeah. You don’t also need that anymore. You know, you’re, you’re at that point where you can, you can put it behind you and you can move on. And I think it would be wonderful if people can have that same mindset, like the place where you’re at right now, where you can take that law enforcement and, and your military background and kind of put those aside and say, look, that’s a, that’s a part of who I am.

It’s, it’s a part of my past, my history, but it’s not a part of My future right now, my future right now is whatever comes next. And I think if people can take that mindset that you you’re bringing to the table right now and use that going forward after leaving the military, that would set them up for success.

I think, um, you know, going forward, right?

JP Perez: Yeah. And you’re absolutely right. Cause it doesn’t have to be that way. I think one of the coolest things that you mentioned is that it’s part of my past. And that’s, that’s actually pretty cool because I think that when we, when we get out of the military, we all got out for a reason. We didn’t re enlist.

Maybe you did 20 [00:08:00] years. Wonderful, right? But at the end of the day, retirement still comes for you because you have to move on. You have to, you have to keep going. You have to keep finding out what’s next. And I think that when I left the military, I thought that law enforcement, well, that’s what was next for me.

And I thought that that would be it. I didn’t think about what was past that. And now that I am leaving law enforcement and it’s a wonderful feeling because it is very much like separating from the military where I don’t know what’s next. But now I think the nice feeling comes from knowing that just because I don’t know exactly what’s next, it doesn’t mean that it’s scary.

It just means that Well, I’ve had a chance to take on something else in my life. I’ve had a chance to switch careers and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s actually a really good thing to understand that one of the skills that the military gave us that we can use is being able to adapt, being able [00:09:00] to improvise, being able to overcome and finding other ways and other approaches and different ways to look at things.

Because I think we forget. Some of the skills that the military gave us and we try and lean on the things that we think are the only things that we need from the military and it’s hard because um, I just think it’s absolutely freaking awesome when you can make a decision to change paths, switch careers, change the trajectory of like where your life is headed just because you understand that you want something different.

So, yeah, I’m right there with you. Mm hmm.

Scott DeLuzio: a hundred percent. And, and you’re right. We do sometimes forget, or maybe we don’t forget necessarily the, the things that we learned from the military, but we, we have. Like, this is, these lessons are military only and we kind of like isolate them or silo them and we don’t know how to apply them later on in [00:10:00] civilian life, like, like you’re saying, you know, improvise, adapt, overcome, um, you know, all of that, like, In a military context, I think, you know, many people who are listening to this, we get it.

We, we can understand that. Um, but then now take it out of the military context. We don’t have the uniform. We don’t have the, you know, the, uh, the weapons. We don’t have the squad with us. We don’t have any of that stuff with us. We’re, we’re just, you know, JP or Scott or, you know, whoever just we’re on our own now.

And How do we apply that to everyday life, right? And let’s just take you as an example. You have a career in law enforcement ten years, which is is nothing to you know, be ashamed at that you’re you’re you’re moving on to something else. Like I think that That’s fine. Like there’s nothing wrong with that.

Um, and you realize it’s no longer serving you and you’re moving on to something else. So you’re, you’re, you’re adapting to the situation, you know, and in some cases you may feel like you’re improvising. Um, but you know, hopefully we can [00:11:00] get you that. Point where you’re, where you’re overcoming and thriving, you know, with, with all that.

Right. So, so I think it’s kind of a, the gist of all that through, through a transition. Um, now you mentioned your business, uh, you know, just briefly, um, a couple of minutes ago, um, and it’s the VetRise Academy, right? And, um, and so tell us more about that and kind of what you do, um, with that and how, um, you’re working to help support veterans in their post service lives.

JP Perez: Yeah, absolutely. So, about two years ago, I launched VetRise Academy. Initially, it was going to be an online coaching business, not specifically aimed at veterans, but I’ve had a lot of friends that have taken their lives. And I know a lot of us have, listening to this. And I think I realized that, It needs to be addressed before it ever gets there. Sometimes when you’re there at that point in that darkness, it’s hard [00:12:00] to see the light. I think that getting to the veteran before they get to that point is very helpful. So I started coaching specifically veterans. I started making content online specifically for veterans and fitness is definitely the foundation of what I teach and I coach about.

It’s fitness, nutrition, accountability, and mindset, but fitness is just the vehicle to help you make that appointment at the VA to help you. Go to bed on time to help you not resort to drinking every weekend. To help you actually start to lose a couple of pounds and gain that confidence back and remember what it means to actually feel that discipline inside of you again.

And now that we, we are going, it’s, it’s absolutely freaking amazing. We have over, I think 300 total clients served at this point in the last two years. And honestly, the biggest wins that I see with my clients, the people that come into the program in Vetrise Academy, isn’t just the 20 to 30 pounds or the 70 pounds loss, which [00:13:00] is absolutely amazing, but it’s.

For example, uh, a guy that I served with who ended up coming into my program, he went into law enforcement and he never thought that he’d be able to pass the physical test and he did. As a guy in my, in my program and he got fired from his job and the same day he found another job that paid better because of the confidence that he said that being in the academy gave him.

Veterans being able to move out of the parent’s basement, veterans being able to get a promotion at work or actually start going to college and using their VA benefits. So fitness is the foundation because moving the body releases chemicals into the brain and makes you feel better. You start to just get into momentum.

Absolutely. I 1000 percent believe that, but what we teach and what we coach about isn’t just that. And so. I launched the podcast as well, which is the VetRice podcast. I have social media where I put videos out there. And the reason why my videos are a little [00:14:00] bit different, the reason why I think a lot of people resonate with them and they, they reach out to me and they tell me that no one’s ever put it to them this way is because I realized that the things that I was thinking, I wasn’t really hearing anywhere and I’m not special.

I don’t have these thoughts alone. It’s not just me. It’s just my opinion and it’s what worked for me. And it was me hearing these things in different ways, so I just found a different way to kind of hold the mirror up to veterans and hold not just them accountable, but help themselves realize that they can do more, that they are very capable.

That they do have to be the ones that decide to pick themselves up. I get it. We have a lot of entities and a lot of organizations out there that are doing amazing work and they’re helping veterans and it’s not to discredit them, but the veteran has to be willing to actually go to those appointments to pick up that phone, to make those appointments, to show up and get the help.

And sometimes it starts with just getting out of bed, taking a cold [00:15:00] shower, going for a 30 minute walk, getting more protein into your body. Establishing a sleep routine, like these little simple actions completely can shift the week, the month, the year outcome of what a veteran is experiencing in his day to day life.

Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: absolutely. Um, and just to your point, uh, a minute ago, you were talking about how the veteran has to be the one who is accountable, who, who goes to the appointments, who gets out of bed, who does the work. Um, because while yes, there are many great organizations out there, uh, you know, including yours.

Um, but there’s many organizations out there that want to help out veterans. In one way or another, whatever it is that they’re doing, um, they’re, they exist for the sole purpose of the betterment of veterans and the veteran community. Right. And. If [00:16:00] they are out there and the veteran isn’t coming to them or isn’t doing the work to get involved with them, they can’t do their job.

They, they, they can, they can be there all they want, but if the veteran isn’t going to them, they’re not going to be able to help them. So for the guys, for the people who are listening here, you got to get up off the couch. You got to get out of bed. You got to go do the things. Um, you got to take the initiative yourself.

And sometimes you need help. And I completely understand that, um, that you need that motivation. You need someone there to, to kind of push you to go and do these types of things. Um, and, and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you might need it. I know when I was struggling after getting back from Afghanistan, I, it took me a while to realize I needed to pick up the phone and make a phone call and make an appointment and, and actually go to the appointment.

Um, and it wasn’t easy. Um, and [00:17:00] I, I’ve told the story before, like I, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I was, when I picked up the phone, but I was like, you know, regardless, I need help. So whatever it is, um, you know, anything from talk therapy to putting me in a padded room and, uh, you know, locking the door for, for a while until I figure stuff out, uh, you know, and whatever it is that, that it ends up being, I need it and I need, I need to get the help.

So I’m going to just go do it. Um, but if it wasn’t for me. Saying, I’m going to go do this. No one was going to do it for me. No one was coming and knocking on the door and checking to see how I’m doing and making sure that I was going to my appointments and all that stuff. I had to get up off my ass and do it myself.

And you know, people not willing to do that. Well, you know, all these organizations are great. You kind of have to have a little bit of accountability there too. I think that’s what you’re talking about, right?

JP Perez: I think what you said right there is very important that these organizations, their organizations are [00:18:00] out there to help you, but like you have to be willing to take that first step. Because that’s the premise of, of self help, right? You, you cannot offer a hand to someone that doesn’t want that helping hand yet.

And I think there’s a lot of veterans out here that feel like, why does no one understand me? Why am I losing relationships? Why do I keep losing this job? Why do I not feel fulfilled? And instead of asking why they need to ask how, like, how can I feel fulfilled? How can I make sure that I’m not losing my job?

How can I make sure that I actually do adapt? And I think, honestly, it comes from. Destroying the old, the old perception, the old you, like we have to understand that I think one of the things that we do that hurts us a lot is drawing this line in the sand between us and society. And I don’t think we realize that we are part of society.

Now we are part of, of [00:19:00] this culture and we have to learn how to. Like, not just survive, but thrive here. And to do that, we have to understand that, guess what? Everybody that’s been here has been doing this longer than you. And the same way that you went into the military, you had to learn customs and courtesies and how to talk and how to speak and how to walk and how to do well in the military.

You have to learn that here as well. You have to learn how to ask for help. And that doesn’t only mean veteran sources. That might mean a civilian that understands how to put together a amazing resume. That maybe doesn’t have a lot to do with your military career. Like, it’s in there. Absolutely. But perhaps your perception of one thing isn’t the same as, as the reality that we live in now.

There’s a lot of resources out there that we have to be able to, to like, look for and ask for help from. And it’s hard to do that, especially when you are a freaking [00:20:00] 23 year old. Who was a scout sniper who deployed to Afghanistan and you get back and you feel like you know everything and that was me And I didn’t ask for help.

I felt like I knew everything I felt like I have to figure it out because if I don’t that means that I’m not capable and that’s just not true

Scott DeLuzio: Because at one point you were invincible. You’re on top of the world. You, you could take on a whole squad of people by yourself in your mind. Right. And then you come back and well, of course I can handle finding a job. Of course I can handle this relationship. Of course I can handle all these seemingly little things.

Right. But these are, these are big things. Like we, we can’t downplay them. Like finding, finding a job, like, look, anyone can find. A job, it may suck. You may hate it. It may not be, you know, what your, your career path is, is, uh, you know, in line with, can find a job doing something, [00:21:00] but is that really what you want?

Right. And so that it’s going to take some work. Now you got to think just like in the, in the military, when, when you have a mission, you, you, you figure out, okay, what’s the objective and you kind of plan backwards from there, right? And what, what do I need to do to achieve that, that objective? And if you have a certain career goal.

Okay, well, what is that goal? All right, what do I need to do now? What type of jobs do I need to do in order to be able to hit that, that career goal? Maybe I need some further education, maybe some training. Maybe I need to go to a vocational school. Maybe I need to go to college. Maybe I need to do all these different things.

Um, but you kind of have to figure that out and then you can kind of game plan. All right, well, the college degree, maybe it takes four years. Okay. So I know I, at least I have four years before I can hit to that. But in the meantime, is there something else I could be doing? You start working on, you know, maybe I’m working a job that, that helps me get towards that a little bit quicker.

And you know, so, so you, you plan it that way, but you can’t just go out and, and just [00:22:00] get any old job and expect that, you know, five years from now you’re going to be CEO of the company, you know, um, you gotta kind of plan that out. Right. Um, but, but again, it, it’s going back to. You have to take the initiative.

You have to do that. When, when there are gaps where there are things that you don’t know how to do, you go and ask for help. And just like you were talking about someone helping you with your resume. Um, you know, how many people who went into the military at 18 years old, stayed in for maybe 20 years.

They get out in their late thirties or so, and they had never filled out a resume ever at that point. How many people are going to know how to do it? Probably zero. And, and so like, it doesn’t hurt to go ask. Um, you know, there are plenty of things in life that we ask other people to do to help us with.

You know, if your, your air conditioner goes out, you call, you call a repairman and they, they come and they fix it. Right. Um, if, if your car starts making that squeaky noise or whatever, you bring it to a mechanic and they fix it. And [00:23:00] like, nobody thinks any different of it. Um, you know, like nobody, nobody’s like, Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that guy went to a mechanic.

Like, like what a loser, you know, it’s like, it’s, it’s a normal thing. So like, why wouldn’t like anything else in your life, why wouldn’t you go and, you know, Ask for help if you need it. Um, and, and I think that’s, that’s kind of the, the mentality anyways, that I think more people should, should take on.

Right. Um, do you have any like tips or, you know, uh, exercises or anything like that, that can maybe help, uh, some of the listeners that, that are maybe struggling a little bit with this to, to build that positive mindset and, and get some good habits and, um, start taking that initiative on, on their own.

JP Perez: Yeah, the number one thing that I I tell I tell most of my clients and even the, I have a lot of people that reach out to me on social media. Uh, most of them are people that have been out for four or five years. Some of them are guys and gals that are about to get out. And there are also a few that have been [00:24:00] out for maybe a year or so.

However, those are the people that stayed in for 20 years. And the number one thing that I always tell them that seems to help seems to be truly advantageous is that you have to drop your ego. You have to understand that when you get out, you feel invincible, which is great in a lot of things in life, but it doesn’t really serve you when you’re out here trying to navigate this new world.

I tell a lot of veterans, like think of it as if you are moving to a brand new country because it’s a little like that. You, when you’re 18, what do you know? Nothing really, like you think you know, but then when you turn 22 or 23, you’re like, I didn’t know anything when I was 18. And then the same thing when you, when you turn 25, you feel like, well, what the hell did I know when I was 22 or 23?

It’s the same thing. Now you’re leaving the military, which Most of [00:25:00] us, at least, let’s just say the minimum right was four years. I did five years. Whatever. Let’s just say it’s four years. That’s four years of living in a different world, different country. Culture is different. The way that you talk, the way that you are, the people that you hang out with, your friends, your leadership, all of it is so different.

And then just like that snap in a matter of a weekend, Now you are back in this world that you think you’re coming back to. So you think you should do all right, right? Well, I’ve been here before. I conquered the military. I freaking did really well over there. I was an NCO or whatever. Maybe you didn’t at the end of the day, you did in one way, shape, or form conquer it because you still did it right.

You didn’t get kicked out or whatever. Like you still did it. So now you’re out and now you have to understand that there is no bootcamp. There is no three month training for how to be. A successful veteran in this society. So there’s no one there to teach you how to [00:26:00] talk. No one there to teach you how to sign a lease or find the right apartment for you, which is going to work for you.

No one that teaches you how to be able to set boundaries, how to get into a good relationship, how to make sure you’re not in a bad relationship, how to apply for college the right way. So like you are a little bit lost. And if you don’t accept that by like dropping that ego. And not only being willing to ask for help, because we talked about that by, but by being willing to put yourself out there and experiment and be a little uncomfortable and maybe take a job that doesn’t turn out to be your career choice, but it’s still a job and you learn something from it.

Maybe that 22 year old freaking Best Buy manager, who’s now in charge of you at 25 or 26, like, guess what? Maybe he does have something he can teach you, but you’re not going to learn if you don’t drop the ego.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, right.

JP Perez: And honestly, like, doing that and becoming self aware and just trying to do your very best to make [00:27:00] every day count.

And understanding that when you become self aware, you start to realize, like, alright, cool, you know what? I used to be forced to PT all the time. Now, I don’t want to, but I still need to because I know that it keeps me sharp. I used to be forced to up and be at work on time 15 minutes early to 15 minutes early.

Now, because I was forced to do that, now I push the other way and now I’m always late or now I sleep in, like, it’s not because you were forced, it’s because you have to keep doing it because it was good for you. So just being self aware of like what things the military gave you that were very useful and now you have to find out a new reason why you still need to keep doing it as you drop the ego.

Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: I like that. Um, and going back to what you’re saying about, um, you know, we, we all were civilians at one point. You know, we may have been an 18 [00:28:00] year old kid who didn’t really know anything, even though we thought we did, but, uh, we all were civilians at one point. And then, then we go off to military land and we, we live in military land for a little bit and we, we have different, uh, experiences and, and we, uh, learn the military culture and we, we start to. Forget a little bit about, you know, the way things were, but, but the, the way things were also continues to change. I mean, society changes, cultures, you know, things like that shift, maybe not drastically, but there’s, there’s little shifts and after four, You know, 20 years there’s big shifts and you start to not recognize the world that you once were in, um, because there’s a whole, whole bunch of different things.

And just as a quick example of what we’re talking about, the town I grew up in, we lived there for, uh, oh, 10, 15 years. 10 15 years or so. Um, right. So I knew the town pretty [00:29:00] well. Like, you know, I lived there. It was, it was my, my hometown and, you know, lived there and, uh, moved away. Uh, I’ve been away for 10 years or so.

Um, a couple of years ago, went back to visit and all that and the surrounding area. And things have changed like, like highways, like some of the exits changed and, and some like new stores showed up or, or some of the old buildings that were there, they got torn down and new things are in their place. And I started to not recognize things in certain places.

And, and I felt like I was kind of lost, even though. I was there for so long. Um, I should know all this stuff, but things changed while I was gone. And then I went back and now I got to like relearn some of the stuff and that’s okay. Like you have to expect, like, nobody’s going to just stand still and wait until you get back and get out of the military and not do anything with their lives.

Like things are going to change and, and you gotta, gotta be okay with that. And. And so when, when you do get out and you do recognize, Hey, this isn’t the way things used to be, well, no, no shit, of course it’s not [00:30:00] the way it used to be, it’s, it, things change and you kind of have to just, uh, like you said, drop that ego and, and be willing to ask for, for help, like, like what’s going on with this thing, you know, why, why is this the way it is, you know, and just ask for help, that type of thing.

Um, yeah. you did mention fitness, nutrition, those types of things, um, obviously those are, those are important, you know, we, we’ve been told from a very young age that fitness and nutrition are, are important things, um, A lot of times we just think of those types of things as, uh, things that impact our physical health, which they do, obviously, you know, if you’re getting overweight because you’re, you’re eating like crap and you’re not exercising, well, those are two things that you could do to kind of start working towards, uh, getting your, your physical health back in shape.

But, um, also has a, a impact on your mental health too, right? Yeah, yeah, I, I, so, you know, talking about the, the mental health side [00:31:00] of things, um, you know, to, to your experience, um, I know you said you, you kind of let yourself go a little bit, um, you know, when, when you were getting out, how did that impact you on the mental health side of things?

JP Perez: I forgot what it meant to be in charge of myself. So when I, when I started working in law enforcement, I didn’t schedule anything besides my work and I stopped taking care of my health. I stopped eating right. I just ate whatever. I stopped. And I just leaned into work, and before I knew it, like I was, I was overweight.

I was drinking every night. I was driving home at night and taking the streets instead of the highway, because I knew that there was two McDonald’s on the way home, and one of them would have the ice cream machine working. [00:32:00] And honestly, I thought that, well, this is normal. I’m no longer in the military. I, I have to be the best cop that I can be.

And I completely stopped paying attention to how I was mentally feeling. I was in very dark places, going through a divorce, abusing alcohol, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. And it was because I was not taking care of myself. So therefore my body started just doing whatever it could to get by and survive.

There was a huge shift in me when I was driving home one night after working back to back shifts, Not sleeping and I was tired. I was dead tired and I ended up crashing my car and, uh, thankfully it was just me and I, I ended up striking a pole and I realized that I am like [00:33:00] killing myself. I am slowly and deliberately doing things that are destroying my body and my mind.

From then I started getting better sleep by just studying and researching and becoming a freaking nerd to just physical and mental and habit. type of health. So I have a very strict kind of habit that I have for sleep of making sure that I get enough sleep. And it’s all about systems. Systems are your safe nets.

So you will not just all of a sudden perform to a certain level. You, you will fall back to the systems that you’ve put in place. I have post it notes all over my house that literally tell me what to do, because it is a system that I have built that is my safety net when I’m dead tired, or I forget certain things, I have a post it note right by my door that says, did you make sure that you took this, this, this for your day?

Same thing with my light switches, and I know it sounds like I’m getting off topic, but I’m going to come back [00:34:00] to it, because

Scott DeLuzio: No, you’re good.

JP Perez: When I finally started taking care of my physical health, when I started working out again and eating better foods, it felt like this fog was lifted from my brain. It felt like all of a sudden, I finally did that update on my operating system in my head.

that I hadn’t done. And I started paying attention. I became self aware of realizing, all right, this week was really good. I don’t feel any anxiety. I don’t feel the darkness. I was able to wake up on time. I went to bed on time. I was actually nice to people. What was different? I’m like, all right, I worked out four times this week. And I noticed that after I work out, my brain actually feels better. And that’s because. What the body does once you work out, you release all these chemicals into your brain, serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine, like it’s just [00:35:00] the dopamine hit that comes from not just working out, but the things that happen because you work out.

Because I’d made a decision today to wake up and go to the gym, I can make the decision that after the gym, instead of smoking a cigarette, I’m going to go for a walk during lunch and I’m gonna decide that I’m gonna have a salad with some chicken and guess what? I freaking enjoyed it. And now all of a sudden, you know what, I have an extra hour.

I’m going to make that VA appointment and I’m going to actually go to therapy. I’m going to schedule that. All right. I’m feeling good. You know what? I’m actually going to have dinner that I make myself and I’m going to enjoy making it maybe with my kids or my loved ones or whoever or whatever it is.

All right. You know what? I’m tired. I had a good day. It was productive. I wasn’t an asshole on my way home from work. I didn’t get into any road rage incidents. I wasn’t blasting heavy metal music, getting angry at everybody. I’m going to go for a walk after dinner. And then you go for a walk and you’re like, wow, [00:36:00] like when was the last time you were outside in the fresh air?

And then it’s bedtime and you’re like, you know what? I don’t need to scroll on my phone just to get dopamine because I feel like my day was terrible. No, like I had a good day. So you can make the decision to get in bed and actually fall asleep. And then it starts all over again, and it’s a series of decisions of just understanding that one thing can throw you off, but one thing can also keep you on track.

Just every single decision that you make, when you just make that decision to take care of yourself, starting right now, you are changing the trajectory of your day, of your life. That is how you Physical health and mental health are very closely combined.

Scott DeLuzio: So yeah, you know, thinking about going back to what you were just talking about, um, and you, you, you said you kind of became a nerd on, you know, some of these things that, uh, you know, figuring out your fitness and nutrition and all these things and, and doing the, doing the work. And, and some people [00:37:00] might look at that and like, ah, man, I don’t want to be a nerd.

Like, like that. That’s not for me. I don’t want to, I don’t want to go down that path. Right. But think about, let’s take it back to the military and think about if you had a private who was sitting there and he was, uh, reading through, I don’t know, like the ranger handbook or something, you know, something like that to better himself as, you know, an infantryman or, or, or whatever the job was that you had in the military.

Right. I’m using that. Have an infantry, know, connection here. Right. So, you know, let’s just use that if, if he was sitting there and he was reading through the handbook and he was going through all the stuff, um, or, or he was trying to learn, you know, the next, you know, some other medical, you know, skills or whatever to help save you on the battlefield, if, if God forbid, need be, um, would you think any less of that person?

Would you think that person was like, Oh man, what a nerd? You know, you’re, you’re, you’re wasting your time, man. Like, you know, anything like that? Of course not. Like [00:38:00] you would look at that person and be like, Oh man, that guy’s, you know, pretty high speed. Like, he’s trying to, you know, better himself and do, do the right things.

So why wouldn’t you do the same thing with your own life? Like, why not? Why not go and say, look, something is not right. You know, I’m gaining weight. I’m feeling like crap. I’m weak. I’m not doing the things that I, I should be able to do. Um, why not? And let’s try to figure that out. And so you go and you, you do the work to, uh, You know, first off you got to learn, you got to learn what it is that needs changing.

Um, you know, the, these are the inputs that you’re putting into your body, you know, maybe it’s cookies and cake and you know, chips and all this other crap that, that you don’t need. It’s like, okay, well let’s replace that with, you know, meat and vegetables and, and fruit and other, you know, high quality sources of, uh, of food.

Okay, well that, that’s a good start, but you know, what, what are the other things that you need to be doing? You know, instead of [00:39:00] sitting on the couch watching television and, binging, Netflix, maybe you can, like you said, go for a walk, go to the gym, go, go do something, get involved in a, you know, uh, activity, maybe a recreational league or something like that.

If you’re into sports or whatever, you know, go do something physical and, and get out and move and, and get that energy, uh, going. And. You know, there’s, there’s tons of things that you could be doing, but look at the data, figure it out. Be a nerd about your own freaking life. Like that’s not a bad thing.

Like people, I probably from, you know, our, our generation growing up, um, you know, people looked at nerds as being like, you know, don’t call me a nerd because that’s, that’s like a, that’s asking for a fight, you know, at that point. Right. But. If you think about it, it’s like, it’s just someone who’s really passionate about something.

And, and when we’re talking about your life, why the hell wouldn’t you be passionate about that? Right. So it was a perfect example of what you’re just talking about there. Right. Um, yeah, no, go ahead.

JP Perez: I like to think of it [00:40:00] as, uh, like it’s an adventure. It’s a challenge. You’re optimizing your environment. And when I say that, so like, I’ll give you a quick example. When you’re self aware and you realize that one small little tweak can change so much. For example, we tell ourselves like, I’m just a bad sleeper.

Like, you’re not. You just have bad sleep habits. Of course, there’s medical stuff and we won’t get into that. But the point of it is that The phone from your blue light, the phone, the blue light from your phone is going to keep you up and your circadian rhythm is going to be all jacked up so when you can make the decision to put your phone on the charger across the room from you and decide to turn off most of the lights.

Here, for everybody listening, if you, if you tell yourself that you are a bad sleeper, do a small experiment at least for three or four days at the very least. Put your phone on the [00:41:00] charger across the room, turn off or dim most of the lights at least an hour before you are trying to go to bed. Make sure your room is nice and cold. You can even get a weighted blanket if that’ll help you, because that helps me. And make sure your room is as dark as you can make it. And the last little trick, if you are having trouble sleeping, and for years it’s been like this, is I’m going to challenge you guys to listen to binaural music when you go to bed. It is a game changer because it activates your brain just enough to keep it engaged and prevent the overthinking, but it also stimulates it enough to start to slowly Allow your body to fall asleep on its own. And you do need headphones for that because it plays different wavelengths in each ear. I have a set of eye covers that I, I wear pretty religiously, and that will help you fall asleep.

So just by doing that little thing and being self aware and being a little nerd about it [00:42:00] and being a freaking optimizer, like you do that. And then a week later, you’re like, Holy crap. I’m looking at my sleep data and I’ve actually been getting seven hours of sleep and I can’t remember the last time I got seven hours of sleep a night.

And now like I have all this newfound energy and I’m playing with my kids and I don’t want to drink at night. And then like just by doing that little thing, by being self aware, making those changes deliberately. You can change so much more on the outcome. That that’s what I mean by being a nerd and optimizing and it gets me excited because it’s it’s really an individual challenge because I know you can do it.

We can all do it. It’s just about are you committed to change or just interested in it? Yes. Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: for sure. And it, it sort of has that. snowball effect where you start, you make that one little change, like putting your phone on the other side of the room. Okay. That’s a good start. Well, you know, make sure all the lights are, are, are off and, you know, maybe get those blackout curtains. If you [00:43:00] have like bright lights outside, like street lights or something like that, you get, get some curtains to make sure that you, you don’t let that light into your room.

Um, or, you know, you, um, You make sure that you’re not watching television right up until the moment that you go to bed and you know, all those things, you want to keep those lights kind of dim and make sure that your, your environment is, is good to go. But like you said, you know, a week later, you’re going to start noticing other things are changing in your life.

And then, and then that next thing and the next thing and the next thing, right. Because that, that one thing, like maybe you’re not going to want to drink so much, uh, anymore. Okay. Well that, that’s going to start, uh, helping you lose some weight. Uh, it’s going to start making you feel better. Uh, it’s going to start, you know, giving you a little bit more energy.

You’re not going to wake up groggy and hungover. Um, and so maybe you’ll go for a run in the morning or you go to the gym or something like that. And so all of these things, just from a small change, it’s, it, it, it makes it so much easier. [00:44:00] Um, kind of, kind of just like it clears a path to allow those things to happen.

Of course, you can decide to just sleep in and not do it. Wake up and exercise. Of course you can, you can choose to, uh, you continue eating bad foods, right? You can make all these choices. You can choose to keep your phone right next to your bed and keep all the bright lights on and all the things that, that aren’t good for you.

You can make these choices, but if you know that, Hey, This is my goal. This is my objective. I want to, I want to sleep better. I want to do this better. I want to be better at all these different things. Focus on making those small changes and eventually you’ll get there to that point. Um, where, where you’re, you’re actually Doing these things a whole lot easier because that barrier, those barriers are just gone, right?

You’re, you’re eliminating them. So I, I think that’s, that’s great advice. Um, you know, that you’re, you’re saying there, um, as far as the, the VetRise Academy, [00:45:00] um, tell people, uh, you know, who are kind of interested. They’re like, you know, I, I think I need a little bit of help in this, this area. Um, Where can they go to get more information?

What, what type of programs, uh, you know, can, can they expect, um, everything that they, they can expect from, uh, what you have to offer.

JP Perez: Yeah, I’d love to. Thank you. So the VetRise Academy, the number one place that you can find more about me, more about what I’m doing is, is on TikTok. Uh, I also have a podcast. Uh, the podcast is called the VetRise Podcast. However, TikTok is, uh, where you’ll find more of my opinions, very easy to digest short form content.

And, uh, on there, I am JP, the veteran coach. Now, if you are interested in getting coaching, I will tell you a little bit more about the program and. Then if you do decide to apply, we will have a one on one where you will actually get to talk to me and I will kind of do an [00:46:00] intake to see where you’re at.

The coaching that I provide is going to be specifically designed for you. For example, I have veterans who cannot make it to the gym right now. And we do create workout programs that are going to be designed for them where they are at home. I am not going to put you through a two hour workout. You are not here to destroy your body.

You are here to build a better lifestyle. I’ll meet you where you’re at. I’m going to challenge you. But I’m also not going to freaking destroy you. It’s not meant to overwhelm you. It’s meant to actually help you replace a lot of the bad stuff, bad habits, bad relationships, bad boundaries that you have put into your life.

Nutrition wise, we start tracking where you’re at. We bring you into the program and then we do offer you a full meal plan that is customizable specifically for you. But we start tracking where you’re at just because number one, like I said, being self aware, paying attention, just by doing that, you start to make some pretty deliberate choices in your life.

We also. Make sure that we bring you into the community. So the community we have is one of the strongest things that we [00:47:00] have in the program, because honestly, on that random Wednesday or that random Thursday, when you’re not feeling up for it, you see all the gym selfies, you see all the wins, you see people that you’ve actually become friends with posting that they didn’t want to go to the gym, but they still did it.

And now they feel freaking great. And you see so and so talking about the fact that, well, now even his son is. Starting to wake up with him in the mornings and that motivates you to want to make a change with your son. So the community is a big part of it. Absolutely. And it’s private community. Only people in the program have access to it and nobody else sees what we talk about besides everyone in the program.

And then last but not least, is the coaching calls that we do. So every Monday, every Thursday, we have a coaching call where we cover up specific and different topics. Sometimes it’s about sacrifice. Sometimes it’s about learning to set boundaries. Sometimes it’s about developing a better meal prep routine or developing a morning routine.

So it’s ongoing training for life, basically, if you will. And if you are interested in it, you feel, [00:48:00] feel free to reach out. My application link is in my bio on TikTok, or you can send me a message on any of the socials. And I will reply to you personally and we can have a conversation about it. So honestly, it’s, it’s, um, it’s an experience and we’ve had a lot of success in the program just because the people that come into the program, they, all I need from you initially is just to be, to be committed to change.

You don’t have to have, The answers. You don’t have to have a game plan. That’s what we provide for you. And normally the hesitation is, well, I’m a veteran. I should be able to do this on my own. Like this is you doing it on your own. You are the one that, that like sought help. You are the one that is paying for the program.

You are the one that is doing the work. You are the one that is showing up. I’m not doing it for you. I like to say that I’m not going to drag you up the hill. I’m not going to push you up the hill. I’m going to walk with you. I’m going to tell you, Hey, watch out for that, you know, hole right there, or Hey, we’re turning left up here.

Or hey, we have to be careful right here because it’s pretty treacherous. It doesn’t [00:49:00] mean you’re not doing it yourself. It just means that you’re smart enough to freaking ask for help, which is what we’ve been talking about today. Right?

Scott DeLuzio: Exactly. And it’s, it’s similar to me, uh, thinking of, you know, being a, an individual in the military, you’re not going to go. Invade Iraq on your own and take the country down, right? You know, take, you know, do all the things. You’re not going to go invade those countries. You know, whatever country it is that we invade next, it’s going to happen, right?

Um, you’re not going to do it on your own, right? You’re going to need the strength of the United States military behind you in order to, you’re, you’re a piece of the puzzle for sure. Um, but you can’t do it on your own. And. Just like that, that private that I was talking about who might’ve been sitting there reading the Ranger Handbook.

He is recognizing the fact that he is not that elite status. He doesn’t have all the training, all the knowledge, all the know how in that particular area, but [00:50:00] he’s willing to put in the work to get there, right? It’s the same exact idea as what you’re just talking about and through your program. You know, you don’t have to be an expert.

You don’t have to know it all. You don’t have to even know a hundred percent of, you know, where it is that you want to be going, uh, at this point. Um, what you need to do is show up and what you need to do is put in the work and trust the process, um, you know, give it, give it a chance, see how it works. Um, and.

And how it eventually is going to make these changes in your life, you know, you may not see it day one necessarily, but don’t quit after day one, just because it’s like, ah, well, you know, I, I, I didn’t lose 20 pounds today. Well, of course you didn’t like nobody does, you know, but. Give it time and, and these things will, will start to fall into place.

Um, you know, your, your mindset shift, your, your, your physical and mental health will, will start to improve. And a hundred percent, I think people, uh, definitely if you’re struggling [00:51:00] to figure these things out on your own, um, whether you think so or not, like you said, let the ego, uh, put, or put the ego aside and, um, and, and, and ask for the help and, and I think that’s, that’s the important takeaway here.

So, um, So awesome. So I will have, for the listeners, I’ll have links to, uh, everything that, uh, JP was talking about here in the show notes, uh, so that you can, you can grab a, uh, grab those links and, and click through and, and get, get the help and resources, uh, that, that he was just talking about. Um, JP, anything else, uh, before we wrap up here, anything else that you want to, you want to add?

JP Perez: One thing I’d like to add,

you can always, you can always. Always, always, always change paths. Like the path that you’ve been on, if you don’t like it, you can choose to shoot another azimuth if you want the military terminology, or you can shoot to just [00:52:00] change trajectories. just because you are where you’re at right now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be somewhere a year from now. I think we think in days too much and we forget that decades is what we should be thinking about. Realizing that. Maybe tomorrow you won’t see the change that you want, but if you keep showing up, being consistent and doing the work, your decade can look so much different than just the day to day. Be willing to try something new, be willing to put yourself out there, be uncomfortable, ask for help, try the new thing, think of it as an adventure, and just be willing to know that there are always ways to just be a better version of yourself, always.

Scott DeLuzio: 100%. I think that’s a great message to wrap up on here. Yeah, there are always ways to improve [00:53:00] and you can choose to do so or not. I hope that you choose to do so to improve yourself, improve your relationships, improve your life, just have a better overall outcome with This one life that we’ve all been given.

Right. So, um, JP, uh, want to thank you again for taking the time to come on the show, uh, sharing your story, a little bit of your background and, and kind of your, um, your journey to self improvement and the, the betterment of, uh, other veterans who are out there. And, and like you said, we’ve, uh, we have too many of these veterans who are struggling alone.

Don’t realize that there are people who. Already willing and able to help or even if they realize that their ego is maybe getting in the way If we can if we can help just one of them, I think mission accomplished But I have a feeling we have a lot more in store than just one So thank you again for taking the time to come on and for everything that [00:54:00] is that you do

JP Perez: My pleasure, Scott. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. It was a great time. Thank you.

Scott DeLuzio: Thanks for listening to the Drive On Podcast. If you want to support the show, please check out Scott’s book, Surviving Son on Amazon. All of the sales from that book go directly back into this podcast and work to help veterans in need. You can also follow the Drive On Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.